Q&A with GNR's Richard Fortus

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Photo by Katarina Benzova

Icon Rock & Roll band Guns N’ Roses has been selling out arenas since their debut album Appetite for Destruction went to No. 1 in 1987. Though Axl Rose and Co. have not released an album since Chinese Democracy in
2008, they've continued to rock out across the with large-production shows,
entertaining audiences not only searching for a taste of nostalgia but
also value great music and a sound you cannot find anywhere else. CityBeat caught up with rhythm guitar player Richard
Fortus this week and discussed his personal music path and what fans
can expect from the show.
Guns N’ Roses comes to Cincinnati Friday (with guests D-Generation) for a concert at
US Bank Arena and it sounds like fans can expect a really long night of music. (Read our interview with current GNR/former Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson here.)

CityBeat: You have a Classical music background. I saw
that you played violin and drums when you were 4 and 5 years old.
How did you make the leap into Rock?

Richard Fortus: I guess when I was a little kid I discovered The
Beatles and the Stones and I thought that was much more appealing than Classical music. When I was 12, I was playing the drums. I was playing
the violin around the same time I started playing the drums. I was
getting my Rock & Roll ya-ya's out at the same time I was studying
classically. I was doing that all the way through school. Through high
school, I always played violin and cello and studied Classical guitar as
well.

CB: What advice would you give to kids today who are
interested in music or starting a band? There have been such huge cut
backs in musical programs at schools.

RF: If you love it, if you are truly obsessed with
music, as I was growing up, it is really tough. Right now, it’s such a
difficult time to make a living playing music. You have to really love
it, you have to live for music and there is no other choice but to do it
because, if there is, you should look into other options, because it is
not necessarily a great way to make a living, especially now with the
state of the industry. It’s a very difficult time. It has to be a labor
of love, and if it is, then the only choice, the only way to do it now, is
to grow things very organically at a grassroots level.

CB: And find people you like to be around a lot.

RF: Exactly, and have similar interests to you. That’s
the hardest thing about doing what we do is finding people who are
like-minded in your community, that are into the same types of music and
you have similar interests and are as driven as you are.

CB: You have played in a lot of bands. You played with
Rihanna last year. You have played with Thin Lizzy. What is the biggest
difference in playing with Guns N’ Roses and do you change your style at
all band to band?

RF: No. It’s all music. I have always had this
unquenchable thirst for music. I love playing all styles. It is all a
different challenge to me but it is all rooted in the same place. It is
all me. I don’t really change my style all that much.

CB: I talk to a lot of musicians and they play every day no matter who they are with.

RF: Yeah. My father always said that to me. He said
“You are incredibly fortunate because you would be doing this for free
if you weren’t being paid for it.” That is so true.

CB: You guys canceled a show this week. Is there a story behind that?

RF: In Albany? No. There was no drama or anything
like that. There were permit issues with the building and the venue. We
have a huge production and it is very heavy. The production, it has to
be supported and we have to feel safe about it and it has to be within
their restrictions and that didn’t work out. They tried to resolve
everything. We have had this issue a few times in different venues and
it has been resolved and we were just not able to resolve it there.

CB: So no issues this week and we can expect you in Cincinnati?

RF: Yeah. It wasn’t like anybody was sick or having a meltdown like that.

CB: Or anger?

RF: There was no drama.

CB: What is your favorite guitar solo of all time?

RF: Wow! My favorite guitar solo of all time is probably “Sympathy for the Devil.”

CB: You guys have had a lot of new band members over the
years. How do you make your mark or bring your personality to the band
but keep the essence of Guns N’ Roses alive?

RF: I think it is more about being selective when you
do bring somebody in that their vibe is going to fit and compliment the
band and what we are trying to do.

CB: What do you look for when you bring somebody in?

RF: It really depends on the position. When we
brought Bumblefoot in it was trying to find someone that would fill the
void when Buckethead left. That is a very difficult task because there
are not many people that do that type of thing.

CB: I read some interviews where people were talking about
DJ Ashba coming in and bringing the band together and creating a really
positive vibe with him coming along as well. That is always good to
hear.

RF: Yeah. He is fitting in well. He is a really great guy and really easy to work with. It has been a pleasure.

CB: I am actually a photographer and I’ll be there at the
show on Friday night. The band recently has gotten a lot of negative
press in the music photographer’s community because of the photo release
that the management team makes people sign saying that the band owns
the copyright of the images that the photographer takes, which is our
art basically. I’m not sure if you were aware of that or if you had
feelings about that.

RF: No I had not heard anything about that.

CB: I think there were protests and many people not
applying to cover the band, which is not a good situation for you guys
because it means less press basically.

RF: There are a lot of mysteries as far as things like that go with this band.

CB: I just didn’t know if you knew about it or if it had
something to do with an incident in the past with Axl not liking
photographers potentially. I’m still going to come out because I still
love the band and I love the music and I want to see the show. I haven’t
seen it in many, many years, but there has been a lot of heat around
that issue with the release.

RF: I don’t doubt that. I’m going to make some
inquiries about that because this is the first I’ve heard of it. I’ve
had friends come out recently and shoot the band and they haven’t
mentioned it to me.

CB: I think it hasn’t been at every show and a lot of this
stuff sometimes starts out as rumors, but I actually saw the release
from a couple shows ago where people were asked to sign it. I think it
is hit or miss depending on the night. It is interesting and maybe they
have stopped after people started making a big deal about it in the
media.

RF: I don’t get it. That’s weird.

CB: It’s almost like you guys playing your music. You are
putting it out there but now somebody else owns it. It is a touchy
subject in the photographer community right now. There is a lot of
discussion about it because more and more bands are doing it. Foo
Fighters have done it recently and some other large bands. It is really a
deterrent.

RF: I wonder where that comes from.

CB: A lot of the bands have no idea it is going on. I
don’t know if it is a management issue or the agency. Most of the bands
that I have talked to have no idea it is happening.

RF: I would assume that it would have to come through
management somehow or that management would be aware, so I will ask them
about it.

CB: That is all you can do. I thought I’d bring it up because I thought there may have been an incident in the past.

RF: No, not that I am aware of. Nobody has said
anything to me about this, but I know that I see that picture of Axl at
Rock in Rio where he was in the yellow raincoat and it was a very
unflattering picture. It was everywhere and I still see that picture. It
may stem from that, but I have seen a ton of pictures since then. I saw (the raincoat picture) yesterday. It’s just funny. The people that want to make him look bad
use that picture.

CB: What can people in Cincinnati expect from the show?

RF: They can expect to be there for a long time. It’s a long show.

CB: Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for it to actually start.

RF: Actually timing-wise we have been going on pretty
early. We have been starting earlier but we play for a long time. We
play between three and three and a half hours.

CB: That is amazing. I really respect that a lot because you give fans their money’s worth.

RF: That is really what Axl’s intentions are. He
wants to deliver fans their money’s worth and a lot of the times he
really pays for it.

CB: Yeah, that is not easy to do night after night.

RF: Not only that but he literally pays for it.

CB: If you start late and play late you have to pay the venue, correct?

RF: We pay the venue outrageous fees. On top of that,
our production costs are huge. This is a huge production. He is really
intent on delivering the best possible show.